Dark Night
by Red-angel-wings
Summary: For ten years, he slept, and they dared to think he was gone for good. But when Apocalypse rises once again, old friends return and new friends come together. Can they succeed against Apocalypse!
1. Chapter 1

**God it feels so good to be back. I'm sorry to all my readers for being gone for so long. I am updating the chapters to make them less sloppy and to help it flow and transition much smoother. So here's the updated version of the story. Please read all the chapters even if you have already read the story once before. A lot of information has changed, but for the better! Thank you again. Please read and review! Constructive criticism is always welcome!**

**P.S. – Personal thoughts are italicized; telepathy is in bold and in-between apostrophes.**

**CHAPTER ONE**

It was a dark night, lonely and cold. Lena had been on the streets for months now. Her mother was dead, and she was on the run. It wasn't the cops she was afraid of, so much as the mutant camp they would put her in if they found out she was one. Her and her mother had lived in a bad neighborhood; hell even the cops were corrupt. There was no telling what they would have done with her. She shuddered at the thought.

_I didn't mean to __**kill**__ her!_ Lena thought to herself as she walked down the garbage ridden alley. After a year she still couldn't keep from beating herself up about it. _It was an accident!_ _If she wouldn't have made me mad, I wouldn't have let it go. Why did she have to be drunk? Why did she have to hit me? Why can't I control this thing, _she thought, blinking back tears. She was so deep in thought that she didn't even noticed she had walked into a dead-end.

Sirens sounded in the distance, and she turned her head in the direction they were coming from, but it was too late. The man had been creeping up behind her. And, she had become so involved with her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed. He was high out of his mind, wearing a dirty brown work shirt and jeans_. Ugh, I can smell him from here. Disgusting! She vaguely remembered a guy matching the same description being thrown out of the nearby bar several times. _Having been on the streets for some time now, she knew to pay attention to those kinds of things, especially in this part of town; which is why she was kicking herself in the ass for not having noticed him sooner.

"Say there sweet thang! How would you like to help me 'polish my bat'," he said with a leering smirk, methodically tapping the wicked looking, nail-ridden Louisville Slugger in his hand. He moved slowly towards her.

"Stay away. I'm warning you," she said as confidently as she could muster. She started to back away from him.

"Suuuuurrre thang. Right after I fuck you up a little bit," Charlie said in a sickeningly sweet tone. He cornered her at the end of the alley and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her down to the ground. He ripped her shirt in half as he took her down, and struggled to get his pants undone while trying to hold her still.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I CAN DO!" she screamed at him, desperately kicking and flailing, trying to free herself from his drug-induced strength. Her hands and eyes started to glow a fiery white.

"Hey there, Bub. You wanna step away from the lady? Or do I need to come over there and teach you some manners?" A lone figure stood at the entrance to the alley. Lena looked over but all she could see was a silhouette.

"Who the fuck are **you**?" the man said. He shoved Lena's head against the pavement rendering her unconscious before starting towards the stranger.

"Someone you don't want to mess with," the stranger said. There was a lethal edge in his voice. He glanced in the girl's direction and saw that she was starting to come around. He snapped his head back and did a double-take when he saw the faint glow around her hands and face that indicated an energy discharge of some kind. He smelled the alkaline in the air as well. _I'll ask questions later, right now I got a rat to take care of._

_Shit, my head hurts!_ Lena thought coming back to consciousness. She reached up and gingerly felt the spot that hurt the worst. When she withdrew her hand from it, a dark sticky substance glistened on her fingers in the dim light. _Great._ She looked in the direction of the talking she heard, and saw the stranger poised for a fight_. Did that guy just snarl like a dog?_ She didn't ponder the question long. She shakily got to her feet, clutching the brick wall for support, and started to slowly inch her way towards the entrance of the alley.

"Then I guess you'll just have ta learn me!" the guy yelled as he ran towards the stranger. "AAAAAHHHHHHH—huhg! Uhhhghgh..." he gargled as he impaled himself on the knives the stranger had hidden behind his back. The bat dropped from the attacker's hand.

_Lena_ watched her assailant stumble away from the stranger. _I've never seen anyone do that!__ The guy has three knives in each hand! How the hell…? The stranger looked over at her. _She froze instantly, not even daring to breathe.

"That was too easy," the stranger said under his breath, as he shoved the guy to the side in disgust. "Who are you little girl?"

"Are you gonna hurt me too?" she asked fearfully, her eyes darting back and forth from the stranger to the bleeding, unmoving form of her attacker.

"I didn't hurt him **that** bad." He kicked the guy, turning him over so she could see him breathing. "He's just not gonna feel real great tomorrow." He looked back over his shoulder and smelling her fear turned around. "Look, kid, I just saved your life! Are you gonna tell me your name or not?" he growled.

"Lena," she whispered as she put her hand to her head. She felt like she was going to vomit. Her knees buckled, and everything started going black. She hit the ground.

The stranger turned to walk away. "Uhhhh...," he heard the girl moan in her state of unconsciousness. He looked at her attacker, and then back to her. He hadn't killed the guy, but he'd hurt him pretty badly. Eventually either the cops or an ambulance would find him and the girl. He made sure of that with a call on his cell phone. But he knew the cops would only dump _her_ back on the streets afterwards if they didn't put her in a camp. _Shit._ He made a quick decision, "Alright girly," he said picking her small body up from the filthy street.

She came out of it long enough to ask groggily, "Who are you?"

"The name's Logan," he said before she lost consciousness again.

When they arrived back at the mansion Logan carried the girl inside to the Med Lab. "Who do you have Logan?" asked Jean concernedly; running over to the still girl in his arms.

"She says her name is Lena. And from the looks- and the smell of it, she's been on the streets for a while."

"She is a mutant," the Professor said from the doorway, startling both of them. "An extraordinarily powerful one at that…"He glided over to where they were and put his hand on the girl's forehead, probing ever so gently into her mind. He saw only scraps of flashbacks and painful memories. It wasn't much, but he had pieced together some information. "Jean, please tend to her wounds, and try to make her as comfortable as possible. Please come get us when she wakes up."

"Certainly, Professor."

"Logan, will you come with me?" he asked, starting away from the exam table.

"Sure," he said gruffly. He followed the Professor into his plush office. He started pacing the in front of the desk.

"How did you find her?" the Professor asked.

"She kind of found me. I was at Hog's in town, and her attacker had just been thrown out of the bar. I smelled him from inside when he came back about a half hour later. Hog's been having problems with the guy for months now. Being violent and causing fights; the guy's always jacked up on something. When I saw him walk into the alley with a ball-bat full of nails, I knew he was up to no good, that's all. I went to check it out, and he had her on the ground. I had to do something!" He pounded his fist into his palm.

"Settle down, Logan. You saved her life. She will recover from her physical wounds," he said soothingly. "It is her psychological wounds I'm worried about," he quietly added.

Someone knocked on the door, "Come in Jean," the Professor said.

"She's awake."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much to my peeps that reviewed. I don't own any Marvel characters. Please read and review and above all: enjoy!  
P.S. – Personal thoughts are italicized; telepathy is in bold and in-between apostrophes.**

**CHAPTER TWO**

When Lena awoke, she wondered dreamily if she was dead. She blinked hard to rouse herself, and her jaw dropped. _I have __**got**__ to be seeing things_. There was a tall blonde guy with **wings** standing at the foot of her bed. She sat up quickly, and curled her legs under her on the hospital bed, trying to make herself as small as possible. She stared at the handsome creature before her. He was beautiful. Sparkling ice blue eyes stared back with interest. He had a square jaw with a clean-shaven look with wavy golden tresses to his shoulders. _Absolutely, gorgeous_.

She asked tentatively, "Am I dead?"

"Nope, but I guess I could see why would you think that," Angel said with a smile. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

Lena felt oddly calm talking to this person. "It—it's just that I've never seen an angel before. I always figured that you only see them when you're dead."

Angel smiled. "I assure you, I am very human. My name is Warren," he said, extending his hand.

"Lena," she replied, slowly shaking his hand.

"That's a very pretty name," he asked, still smiling.

"Thanks," she replied with a grin. _If you keep smiling at me like that you can call me anything you want._ "So what's going on if I'm not dead?"

"You are in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters," Professor Xavier answered gliding through the door. He motioned towards the stranger who had saved her. "Logan brought you here after you were attacked. He thought you might have needed medical attention, and a hot meal," he said knowingly. "This is a school for mutants."

"I'm not a mutant," she said slowly. No one had ever directly confronted her like that before. Her heart started to pound.

"You most certainly are, and a very powerful one at that. You need not hide your abilities here, Lena. For once, you are in the company of friends," the Professor chided gently.

_Friends. Yeah right._ Lena thought. After being alone for so long, the notion of friends was a distant memory. She _wanted_ to believe these people, who were the first to be kind to her in so long. But, could she trust them? After all she had heard about the camps. You check in but you don't check out."So why bring me here? Why not just drop me off at the free clinic or one of the shelters?"

"Because you have a gift and people who are not gifted have a hard time accepting, let alone understanding what you are going through. We understand because we **are** mutants. Jean," the Professor stated.

Jean mentally picked up the small vase sitting on the table beside the hospital bed and floated it across the room and back again; all the while, Lena's eyes were wide with astonishment.

"Warren's you can plainly see. And Logan has the power to heal from almost any wound. He also has six retractable claws in the tops of his hands."

_So that's where the knives came from_, she thought. She fidgeted and rubbed her hands together nervously until she heard the old man's voice again.

"I would like to offer you to stay with us, Lena. You would have a home here, in the mansion with the rest of the students. We will help you learn to better control your abilities and give you a formal education as well. In return we ask only that you hide your abilities from the outside world when you leave the mansion and go into town, and that you tell no one what goes on inside these walls other than school work. As far as the outside world is concerned, we are merely an expensive boarding school," he watched her biting her lip and added, "You would never have to be alone again." He put his hand on hers and gave her a happy smile. "We will give you sometime to think about it. But, for now, Jean will provide you with clothes; you can wash up, and get something to eat. Afterwards, if you would like, someone will show you around the mansion. You are our guest for the night, and we have a room prepared for you to sleep in."

Lena's mind was reeling from the shock of it all. _A place to live? Can this possibly be real? Am I going to wake up soon?_ Still, she was skeptical. "So what's the catch?" she asked.

"No catch. Not all things in life have one," the Professor answered. "You will learn that, but it will come with time. All wounds heal with time."

Tears started to slip down Lena's cheeks, "Why would you do something so nice for me?"

"We are in the business of giving second chances it would seem," he replied looking at Logan.

"Come on, let's get you out of those old clothes and into a nice hot bath," Jean said, as she gathered a white towel and washcloth from the shelf in the closet. "The clothes probably won't fit you the best, but they'll do for now."

"Thanks…" Lena mumbled as she followed behind the red-headed woman.

Later, after she had had a bath and a big bowl of vegetable soup, Lena found her self wondering. The last time anyone had been nice to her, they had turned out to be much worse than her mother had ever been. They forced her to do things; bad things. She had only escaped when they had fallen asleep without replacing her handcuffs. She feigned sleep and then escaped and hitchhiked to Rochester.

_I'll never let anyone to use me again!_ She looked up from her reverie, and her anger dissipated as though it had never been there. _He is so handsome in that blue shirt. It sets off his eyes perfectly! And that body…. I hope __**he**__ can't read my mind. _She blushed slightly at the thought.

Angel saw her blushing and didn't have to be psychic to know what she was thinking. After all, he got that kind of attention all the time. He only hoped it wouldn't interfere with their friendship. He liked Lena, but-hell, he'd only known her a couple hours! _She has this endearing innocence about her, but she also has a core of steel. She'd have to, to have survived the streets. I hope she likes it here and decides to stay,_ he thought. "Are you ready for the tour?" he asked flashing a mischievous grin, and holding his hand out for her.

"Sure," she replied. She gingerly took his hand. She waited for him to recoil at her touch, but all she saw was a serious expression on Warren's face.

"Did you think I wouldn't want to touch you?" he asked quietly. "Believe it or not, that's a common reaction from the kids when they first get here. No one wants to touch a person when they find out they're a mutant. It's all bullshit. We're no different from anyone else." he said. "Sorry – It pains me every time. No one should be made to feel that way."

Lena smiled at him_._"Well, it's nice to know that someone else feels the same way I do."_ Maybe this place won't be so bad after all, _Lena thought as she looked at Warren_. _He grabbed her hand again to lead her upstairs, and she thought, _Yeah, I think I could really learn to like it here._


End file.
